The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-11-25

group of children IN II over the garden.
Juliette, the female elephant who was
Romeo's companion and escaped the sham
bles during the siege. still walks her beaten
path with living load, ss In former years,
followed or preceded by camels, drome-
diaries, horses, ponies, yaks, goats, lamas,
etc, yoked 10 all manner Of vehicles.
The Ashantee troupe consists Of thirteen
men, most OF them being warriors, four mar
ried women and two girls The chief, Unique
Lantoba, 81 years of age Is very powerful
looking man The two girls, Bundiger and
Nannsi Zooloo. are, respectively, rs and l..
Nannsi is very pretty and passes for beauty
at CoomaSsie. Bundigcr is nicl,named the
elephant by her comrades, not On account OF
her size. for she is the smallest Of the troupe,
but from peculiar wabble in her gait They
are not So dark skinned rs the Nubans, some
in fact are Of deep hazel color only The
warriors costume consists Of skins round the
loins, and their heads are adorned With
feathers and small buffalo horns The
women are plentifully ornament"d with
shells, which circle round the breast and
body, and they have "A very pretty fashion OF
plating their short, woolly hair in parallel
plats up 10 the top of the head
The Ashantees, as Englishmon know 20
their cost. are the most numerous, vigorous
and warlke OF an the native African tribes.
At intervals in the day the whole caravan
goes through a very curious performance,
which includes singing, a sword dance, the
firing OF arrows high into the air, mystic
ceremony and wrestling. Theeasy and rapid
way in which the warriors flourish their
weighty swords implies a strength of muscle
In the arm altogether unknown o. ourselves
In the sword dance they gradually wind
themselves up 20 a pitch of frenzy quite un-
comfortable 90 the spectator, who nervously
keeps time with his foot 10 the stum strum
Of the musical instruments and the wild,
weird chant Of the men and women.
Mr Hood, who is Do charge Of the troupe,
gave me some interesting facts about them
Before / could get them 70 come. began
Mr. Hood, IL had - indemnify Kari Kari
whom the English call King Coffee and en-
ter into an engagement with the British
authorities al Cape Coast castle to bring
them safely back home again. There are
nineteen Of them. Nine hail from Coomasie,
the capital of Ashantee. Eve are natives OF
Kokotan and five of Liberia. They speak
the Fautee tongue They are supposed 10 bee
originally OF the same race as the Fantees.
who are established nearer the Gold coast.
The separation OF the Fanto,s and Ashantee
is ascrihed 10 a famine. which drove the
former south and lel them 70 live on fam, or
herbs, while the latter suhsisted on san, or
Indian corn; hence their names
AlIunf..a r.rsrfar ..Ur.rr..l lrrifh nffrtnlf
impcnetrable forest. the routes through
which consist merely of narrow. winding
tracts, where. though Do is possible for a man
10 ride. or a palanquin ~ be carried. poo
wagon of amy description could pass Many
of the trees attain splendid proportions. but
the mOn0tony is oppressive, and is hardly
ever relieved by the sight of either bird or
beast The country round tle towns iu the
interior Is cultivated with care, the fields be-
ing kept clean, and yielding boo abundance
grain, vans. vegetables and fruits.
Tile Ashantees are very .kiliful, particu-
larry boz woariu, the great African fabric of
cotton Theirpottery and works In gold also
show skill, though surpassed by those pro
duoed n the more southern countries That
man there pointing io Koakul 'is gold
smith, and Is first class hand 40 silver plate
work Not the least remarkable objects
fashioned by him are masks OF beaten gold
for the kings palace at at Coomassie
"The lower orders are held m complete
thraIldom. and Liable 10 Boz put t0 death or
sold into slavery at the will oi the chiefs
The king is supreme master and DO is well
that 10 is SD. as otherwise anarchy would lu-
stantly supevene The people require ON
iron hand 10 keep thom down. they are liac
children, nay, worse, like grown up tomboys;
strong. cruel, yiudictlye. who are only kept
quiz, from the fear OF having their heads cut
of
THE dreadful system Of human sacrifice
which exists among them is founded on "a
wild idea of piety toward parents and other
connections, the chiefs fancying that the
rank of their dead relatives iu the future
world viii Boz measured by the number of az
tendauts sent after them. Thus when the
king dies "a wholesale slaughter takes place
There are two periods. called the Great Adm
and Little Adai, succeeding each other 40 in-
teryals Of eighteen and twcnrv-four days. at
which human victims, chiefly prisoners of
war or condemned criminals, are often im-
moated t0 70 m0n,trous extent On tine Great
Adai. which always falls on a Sunday. the
king visits the burial grounds oi the princes
and Tie royal mausoleum at Bantama, where
the skeletons of his predecessors, their bones
held together by links Of gold, sit ina grim
mOckery of state.
"Fetichism is their religion. Come this
way, wia show sou am idol There are two
huts, you .ee. on the ground yonder. built by